Wellness
Stark Differences in U.S. Life Expectancy: Demographic Trends
- Disparity within five miles of White House is 30-plus years
- Chatham, North Carolina, has the highest average life span
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Residents of Friendship Heights, Maryland, have the second-longest life span of any neighborhood in America: about 96.1 years. Nine miles away, in Anacostia’s Barry Farm, the average is 63.2 years.
These two areas within five miles of the White House are a stark example of how average life expectancy can vary more than 30 years in relatively small U.S. geographic regions, according to data released recently by the National Center for Health Statistics.